Frou A "Connssronoent, San Francisco, Apr. 12, Some little" excitement, spectacularly. played up to its political Possibilities, has been caused by a statement made a day or two ago in the nation's capital that Japan mow possesses every aeroplane secret evolved by American genius for the aerial defence of the United States in time of war.
What the newspapers are up in arms is only natural. That the i-Japanese propagandists are making capital out of the affair is equally to be expected. That, the Japanese in this country claim that it is all political pull is a sine qua non. But there is little doubt that certain plans have gone missing, and. great probability is suspected that they have found their way to the Land of the Rising Sun, The statement is attributed to Mr. Thos. F. Lane, who was formerly State Senator for Missouri—the state enjoying the reputation of being peopled with citizens hard of conviction, "who always "want to be shown"—and before the was ousted from office enjoyed distinction of being legal advisor tothe Air Service Claims Mr. Lane corroborates. the sensational charge, run to earth by a Department of Justice agent, "that the Japanese-owned Standard Aireratt Corporation turned over to Japan copies of every airplane secret held by the United States." Mr. Lane further claims that. this was admitted by the president of the corporation, and goes on to brondeast to the country the obvious information that, if the Tapanese now possess these draw-Ings and models, they will be able to duplicate American Government Planes, rendering futile anything that the Air Service people have their sleeve. The plans are said to have been delivered to Messrs. Mitsui & Ca, (alleged to be the Japanese owners of the Standard' Corporation), and I now see that the Secretary. of War, Mr. Weeks is likely to be dragged into the melee, He advances into the limelight because ho is charged with having blocked institution of criminal suits to, recover a sum of money considerably over two and half million dollars paid the Air-graft Corporation in overpayments, is also claimed that the Corpora. tion, which was secretly manufacveral American aeroplane jor the U. S. Government fat, the time of the armistice, not only turned over the plans but wooden patterns of the machinery used in American aircraft facto-ties. Should this be true, and no one can tell at the moment when ther it is oF not, it was, of course, an outrageous breach on the -part the Corporation, fully" punish= able by law, for it appears that their contract expressly forbade the exploitation of plans specifications without the permis sion of the War Department.
Should this develop into' wider Political significance, you will doubtless be advised' by' the tole.
abie agencies of what trans-there be any "slackening. Your readers may remember that a week or two ago I reported the -general belief in many parts of the country among men well able to gauge the trend of commercial its, that this year, despite its being" presidential year when general dullness is expected, would probably. be a record business year. Mr. Hoover's confirming opinion, therefore, is all the more interesting in view of all the re-Ports that have been sent out. The situation in steel is always a baron meter of trade in the United States, as in Great Britain, and I find a'steady increase both in production and future orders is the rule of the day. Mr. Hoover also emphasized the important fact that the building industry reached peak last year, 1924 building permits have shown 'a large increase over 1923, and increased production is consequently noted in all the industries related to building.
Such slowing down as has been reported in certain lines, so the President said he was inclined to think, is "(probably due to the failure of Congress up to date to solve the tax reduction pro gramme," which is also unquestionably due to investors marking time.
The man whose activities take him near enough to the financial market to allow him to get an inside view is astounded to find the number among the investing public refuse to put their funds into industry because of the existing high surtaxes. A. preference is shown to lend their surpluses at as low as even three per cent., which of course accounts for the present large accumulation of call" money. If the surtaxes were towered, as in the Mellon plan, the consensus of opinion in the financial market is that money would rapidly flow back again to where it rightfully belongs—namely, in industry—and, as the President expresses it,' the country "would feel the thrill of a great revival of productivity and general prosperity."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.